1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of armor for the protection of passengers of a military vehicle. The invention relates more specifically to a blast shield for the bottom surface of military vehicles to protect passengers against IEDs.
2. Background Discussion
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown that our military vehicles need a re-design to the bottom of the vehicle to protect against the new threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). One of the first “V” shaped blast hull designs was used by the South African military in the 1980's. It was specifically designed to maximize passenger survivability for conventionally laid mines. The V-shaped hull is designed to redirect the blast out and away from the vehicle's passenger area. The vehicle may be disabled by the IED, but passengers will survive the blast.
It is easy to design a new vehicle with V-shaped blast shield. All of the new MRAP vehicles, (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) are equipped with a V-hull and most new military vehicles coming out today from all suppliers have them. A large problem is attaching the V-shaped blast shield to vehicles that are already in service. One such vehicle is the Humvee which rides close to the ground and has a flat bottom. There are over 16,000 armored Humvees in Iraq today with over 100,000 Humvees worldwide. Their flat, low bottom surface makes them vulnerable to the IEDs. Today the military is adding armor to the sides, but no blast protection is being added to the flat bottom of the vehicle.